Thread: Motorbikes

Indeed.

I love Italian bikes too, but would I buy an old one? Only if I were rich.... and I wouldn't be for long !

Originally Posted by VladTepes

Indeed.

I love Italian bikes too, but would I buy an old one? Only if I were rich.... and I wouldn't be for long !

A six cylinder Benelli and a Guzzi 500 km racer from the 60's. The one with the water cooled 1000cc V6 made by Maserati. I once had a 45rpm record of the little V6 being run out on one of the Adriatic circuits with long straights.

Now you're talking !!!!!

Sorry folks, I forgot to update you all on this one. Here's some before, during and after shots of the KLR. This is the beast before I started on it. Ok, but looking its age....

Then we started the strip down....

Needed a new radiator, clearly the bike had been dropped and it had been twisted...

Then, the winter weather kicked in and it rained for weeks, so I moved the bike into the dining room to paint the frame and fit new shock boots.

I had a military tank shipped over from the States (you can't get them in the UK) and started to paint the plastics. I got a guy down the road to re-cover the saddle, couldn't decide between black or green, but went with black as couldn't find a shade of green that looked right. I also had to replace the throttle cables as the outer sleeve had been kinked and the carb was full of gunk.

And here it is - ready to go! To be honest it's like riding a two wheeled tractor after riding my ER-6F but I reckon it's gonna look really good at the shows? What do you reckon?

The above looks the goods.
Being mothers day we were going though old photos.
Found some more of my B40 BSA (still got it) from about 20 years ago and my old 1946 corgi folding bike..........sold on.



that last one is of a very thin and young me......the Corgi was the second bike I ever restored.

Well things have gone in a big circle.
The two exarmy GS400 Suzuki s I used to own and a third one which my dad used to own have now come back home, but not in the same state they left.
The previous owner of them stored them under canvass in the back yard for 15 to 20 years.
The effects of condensation have knocked around all three bikes, destroying the chrome work and taking the polish finish from the alloy.
Brakes are shot, though lack of use............motors are most likely OK, but carbies will need looking at due to stale fuel etc.
The previous owner kindly gave them back to me.
I was planning to pass these bikes on as a project for someone else, as I am time poor and have too many unfinished projects.
As fate would have it , bumped into a bloke who does chrome plating etc and we have a bit of a deal going swapping jobs for jobs.
Suddenly getting a Suzuki to historic plates running order is now viable with a option of another down the track , may be in someone else's hands.
The bike I plan to sort out is my dads Suzuki MPs bike, it still had the flashing lights, blackout lights and a faring with a rear rack that carried a metal box with Blue light to carried paper work to write out tickets.
A electronic siren/whaler is also carried.
I don't have a pic of it when purchased from army auctions.
I though I would post pics of the current condition, most of the chrome work and fittings has been stripped from the bikes ready for my friend to fix.
Still have a lot of work in front of me just to get one bike operational.
Knowing these bikes and ridden them many miles , they are worth while to restore, as they are well planted, reliable road bikes, but with the army mods of low compression and lower gearing are surprisingly good off road.
They will still cruise all day at 100kph loaded, with reasonable performance for a little 400cc machine.

29910-ffr-ract-randwick-perhaps by john smith, on Flickr
DSCN0174 by john smith, on Flickr
DSCN0175 by john smith, on Flickr
DSCN0176 by john smith, on Flickr

DSCN0177 by john smith, on Flickr
DSCN0178 by john smith, on Flickr
DSCN0179 by john smith, on Flickr
DSCN0180 by john smith, on Flickr
DSCN0181 by john smith, on Flickr